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Letter to Parents and Guardians 11th April 2025

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Letter to Parents and Guardians 11th April 2025

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01 5224300 Crisis Line for parents and guardians (this is not a free phone number but can be accessed between 9am and 1pm Monday - Friday)

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Special-Crisis Line Parent Pack, April 2025.pdf

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Crisis Line for Children and Young People

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Crisis Line for Children and Young People

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1800 400 100

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Ways to Help Your Child Through This Difficult Time (NEPS)

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Ways to Help Your Child Through This Difficult Time (NEPS)

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Ways to Help Your Child Through This Difficult Time (NEPS).pdf

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Understanding and Reaction to Grief According to Age (NEPS)

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Understanding and Reaction to Grief According to Age (NEPS)

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Understanding and Reaction to Grief According to Age (NEPS).pdf

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Talking to Your Children About Traumatic Death (IHF)

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Talking to Your Children About Traumatic Death (IHF)

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Talking to Children About Traumatic Death (IHF).pdf

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Supporting Your Child's Positive Mental Health and Well-being (NPC)

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Supporting Your Child's Positive Mental Health and Well-being (NPC)

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Supporting your child's positive mental health and well-being (NPC).pdf

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Supporting Children and Young People Bereaved by Suicide (HSE)

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Supporting Children and Young People Bereaved by Suicide (HSE)

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Supporting Children and Young People Bereaved by Suicide (HSE).pdf

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Reactions to a Critical Incident (NEPS).pdf

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How to Cope When Something Terrible Happens (NEPS)

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How to Cope When Something Terrible Happens (NEPS)

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How to Cope When Something Terrible Happens (NEPS).pdf

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Frequently Asked Questions - Parents (NEPS)

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Frequently Asked Questions - Parents (NEPS)

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Frequently Asked Questions - Parents (NEPS).pdf

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Advice on coping with grief after bereavement or loss and how to support others.

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You don’t need to go through a bereavement alone. Find advice on coping with grief after bereavement or loss and how to support other people who are grieving.

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Barnardos Helpline Service – (01) 473 2110 – is available from 10am-12pm Monday to Thursday to any adult concerned about a bereaved child and who wishes to seek information or support.

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Barnardos Children’s Bereavement Service It may take some time for a child to talk about death, but getting support and being listened to helps the healing. Barnardos Children’s Bereavement Service is here to help, by working with families to help them support their child through the grieving process. While we can’t shield children from the ... Read more

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Advice for young people who are coping with death. This may be useful to read with your child.

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This section may be helpful to you if someone you care about has died, someone you care about is terminally il, or someone you care about has had someone close to them die. When a friend or family member dies it’s hard to deal with. It can feel scary, confusing, lonely and heartbreaking. These reactions ... Read more

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Talking to Children About Traumatic Death (Barnardos)

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Talking to Children About Traumatic Death (Barnardos)

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Strategies for talking to children about difficult deaths.

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A guide for parents and carers of bereaved school aged children and young people

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Parentline is a national, confidential helpline that offers parents support, information and guidance on all aspects of being a parent and any parenting issues.

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Home - Parentline - Helpline for Parents.

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2022 was a once again a very busy year for Parentline. There were almost 6,000 calls made to the helplines. Parents sought support and information and guidance on many issues with areas such as school refusal, school related issues, bullying, anxiety, anger and aggression, teenage issues and postnatal depression being particularly mentioned by parents.

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Talking to children about traumatic death

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Talking to children about traumatic death

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Explaining death to children can be difficult, particularly when the death is traumatic. With little time to prepare, you may not know how to begin a conversation.

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Talking to children about traumatic death - Irish Hospice Foundation

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Explaining death to children can be difficult, particularly when the death is traumatic. With little time to prepare, you may not know how to begin a

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Winston’s Wish provides free digital bereavement information and support for children and young people across the UK who are grieving the death of someone important to them.

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Winston's Wish is the UK's childhood bereavement charity. We support children and their families after the death of someone important.

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The ISPCC’s Support Line can be contacted between 9am and 1pm Monday to Friday, by calling 01 522 4300, emailing parentingsupport@ispcc.ie or by writing to any local ISPCC office.

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The ISPCC Support Line provides a confidential listening service, offering information, advice and emotional support to members of the public

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The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network (ICBN) was founded in 2012 as a hub for those working with bereaved children and young people, and their families.

ICBN can signpost families and carers to a directory of bereavement support services.

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Grief is confusing. And while it's completely natural for parents to worry about their children and want to protect them, the best thing is to give them honest, age-appropriate information about a death. Someone who knows the child really well should break the news. Children understand the world through other people; family primarily, but also carers, teachers, extended family, and friends. Support from all these people is vital.

Children process information by age and stage. How they grieve varies depending on their personality, age and level of understanding of death, but all children need clear information. Use words they understand, and be honest and reassuring. Children experience 'puddle grief': they tend not to be sad all the time, instead they dip in and out, getting diverted by playing with friends, or doing routine things such as going to school.

Factors to consider in a child's reactions to bereavement:

Who has died?

How did they die?

What was the child's relationship with the deceased?

How do the family express feelings and communicate?

What else is going on in their life?

What supports are available in the family, and among friends and community?

Children feel the loss over a lifetime, and in different ways: as they grow and learn to understand the real meaning of death and loss; as they revisit their grief, especially around milestones such as anniversaries, Christmas, or moving from primary to secondary.
How can families and friends show their support?

Acknowledge that the loss is important, and that it matters.

Listen to their thoughts, feelings and opinions. Let them know it is fine to ask questions.

Give age-appropriate information.

Maintain day-to-day routine as much as possible.

If things have to change, include the child in decisions, explain the changes and reassure them.

If they want to, let the child take part in the goodbye rituals.

Make sure they need to know it's okay not to be sad all the time.

Give them time to show their feelings, even anger, which can be an expression of deep hurt and unfairness.

Let them talk about their relationship with the person who has died.

As the child matures, they may need new 'explanations', which can involve revisiting the loss and what it means.

They need to know that they are not to blame; anything they thought or said did not cause the death.

With sudden deaths, where there is no opportunity to say goodbye, they may be angry or act out in protest.

Meeting other bereaved children can help them see that they are not alone.

Help them develop coping strategies and resilience to live with loss.

Reassure them that they are loved, and that they will be cared for no matter how difficult grief is for the family.

With good support, most children will not need professional help.

Reading with children can be a good way to support them in talking about their feeling and concerns. See our book list suggestions

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Families - Irish Childhood Bereavement Network

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Grief is confusing. And while it's completely natural for parents to worry about their children and want to protect them, the best thing is to give them honest, age-appropriate information about a death. Someone who knows the child really well should break the news.